Blood: A Victorian idea in the flesh
Item
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Title
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Blood: A Victorian idea in the flesh
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:240656d05615:10923
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identifier
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11247
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Creator
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Musat, Raluca I.,
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Contributor
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Felicia Bonaparte
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Date
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2011
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Comparative literature | English literature | aristocracy | blood | genealogy | gentleman | love
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Abstract
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Based on a large body of primary works in science, philosophy, political economy and literature, this study argues that in the nineteenth century novel the meaning of "blood" changes from genealogy, as employed in the service of the aristocracy, to capacity for generosity and affection, conceived as able to counteract the godless secularism and money worship haunting the industrialized England of the time. "Good blood" begins to mean possessing these qualities more relevant to the needs of the time. Nevertheless, the old associations with noble genealogy continue to exercise influence imaginatively, through the connection with ancestors reputed to have been exceptional in some way, and in some respects practically, through the wealth and political clout still left the aristocracy. This inherent power is not to be wasted but repurposed by novelists, in an effort to reconcile the two meanings of the term and put the fable of blood behind the qualities required of true leaders.;The study establishes the versatility of the word, which denotes, more than just social standing, physiological as well as moral and affective predispositions. This wide adaptability of meaning stems from the duality of blood, its physical concreteness coupled with unusual powers of suggestiveness. In showing that these can be manipulated to give authority to self-serving ideas, novelists dismantle the old prejudices in favor of hereditary titles and coats-of-arms. However, they continue to make use of the metaphoric potential intrinsic to the idea of blood to suggest that all people are bound in a fellowship of mankind and that those who are strong have a duty to help the weak. This spirit of altruism is apt to create a new set of relationships benefitting from associations with blood only in the derivative sense of parental care, brotherly love, and affinities of the heart. The goal is to reconstruct British society on the organic model of a great family, with an aristocracy of talent, and possibly even of birth, at its head, but functioning in a benevolently paternal way. This is not the end of the aristocracy but, rather, an opportunity to justify its privileges anew.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Comparative Literature
